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Arab mobs prove Canada’s government remarkably prescient

October 10, 2012 | Jewish TribunecloseAuthor: Jewish Tribune Name: Jewish Tribune
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Larry Zeifman

Larry Zeifman

Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird announced on Sept. 7 that the country’s embassy in Tehran and Iran’s embassy in Ottawa would be closed. Canada removed its diplomatic staff from Iran and gave the Iranian diplomatic staff – that had long been accused of incendiary activity in Canada – a few days to get out of the country.

The response of the Iranian government was one of shock and criticism, while Israel, whom Iran has threatened with destruction, expressed appreciation at the highest level.

The development was welcomed by Jews everywhere, including by Canada’s national Jewish leadership – by B’nai Brith Canada, of course, but even by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), that has bizarrely (and ridiculously) taken to meeting with Israel’s enemies in an attempt to restart the ‘peace’ process. As if Canada’s and Israel’s conservative governments need Canadian Liberal Jews (the only Conservatives on the CIJA board are gentiles) to advance their diplomatic interests.

And of course, Canada’s liberal media was extremely critical of the government’s decision, even suggesting that Benjamin Netanyahu was now Canada’s foreign minister. What next? Is the Toronto Star to begin free distribution of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion?

Canada’s official explanation for the move was recently passed legislation – which was the result of the herculean efforts of the Canadian Coalition Against Terror, a broad-based collation of Canadians including Danny Eisen and Aaron Blumenfeld, and not Canada’s official Jewish ‘leadership’ – mandates that the government designate countries that sponsor terrorism be designated as such. Accordingly, the government was set to designate Iran as a state sponsor of terror. And the responsible government that it is, it was concerned for what might transpire and for the safety of its diplomatic staff in Tehran once that happened.

On Sept. 11, four days later, we say how prescient that decision was. If a silly, amateurish film could trigger the violence that we saw in Tripoli, Libya, and Cairo, Egypt, then heaven forbid what could have happened in Tehran to Canada’s diplomatic staff as a result of the designation of Iran as a state sponsor of terror now subject to litigation in Canada from victims of that terror.

But, rather than connect the dots and recognize the wisdom of Baird and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada’s liberal media stick to their tired canard, knocking the transformation of Canadian foreign policy from our former policy of ‘evenhandedness,’ which we know as moral equivalence between democratic allies and terrorist states.

In this time of reflection, let us once again thank G-d that Canada is led by visionaries and friends, supporters of democracy. Let us hope for the same south of the border, around the world and even in our own national Jewish organizations.

Larry Zeifman is a member of B’nai Brith Canada’s Board of Governors. This article appeared first in a September issue of Israel News.

Tags: Arab mobs Canada CIJA featured Iran Middle East Tehran